Well, this probably explains why poor people with no insurance have a lower mortality rate than poor people on medicaid.

I go to extreme lengths to avoid doctors and successfully reared 3 children with no hosptial stays, one accident that required emergency medical attention and no broken bones. I spent less than $5,000 on medical expenses for them over a 15 year period.

One in five people in the US owns a gun? I better be more careful about shooting off my mouth.Actually that medical study showed that most of the accidental patient deaths were due to nurses who weren't completely filling out 5 pages of JCAHO documentation prior to administering cold remedies to children in the emergency department. Must be the nurse's fault. ;-)

Funny post but I am curious as to what they used as the definition for "accidental death" for the physician stats. The gun stat is easier to figure out - and yes I agree with Ben in wanting to see the "intentional" gun related deaths stats. After all, we really care about those numbers more.

Gail, a great many poor people on Medicaid were uninsured until they became seriously ill. Spending more than one makes on medical expenses is one way to qualify for Medicaid. Seriously ill people are more likely to die than people who are well.